Some thoughts around the league before Pittsburgh and New York face off in Game 5.
I had the Los Angeles Kings making it to the Stanley Cup Final. I couldn't be happier to be wrong. San Jose plays a much more fun brand of hockey and have more players that I want to watch. Los Angeles was the top possession team in the league, but they unfortunately drew the third best team entering the playoffs in San Jose.
Amazingly Rob Scuderi played for three different contenders this season. The team that had him last played him most and lost the quickest. In a familiar sight for Penguins fans Scuderi slid prone as the other team scored a goal. This was during the series clinching goal.
Jonathan Quick had one of the best postseasons of all time in 2011-12. That is where he built his reputation. The truth is that he is a lot like Fleury in that they are very athletic and fun to watch but slightly above average. Quick's play during the series kept LA back.
Whoops.
Congrats to Paul Martin. He deserves a long playoff run.
The Dallas Stars are as fun as any team in the league. The reason is that they can score a truck load of goals, but it is also because they can give up a truck load of goals. They have about 11 million tied up in goaltending and it remains a huge weakness for them. As a result of their poor goaltending they have to fly back to Minnesota for a Game 6. They are still in a prime position to move on to the second round but they stand no chance to defeat St. Louis or Chicago in the next round with those results at the goaltending position.
I can't lie the one series I haven't caught much of because of the way my schedule has fallen has been Anaheim and Nashville. It appears after stumbling out of the gate that the Ducks have found their footing. They outscored the Predators 7-1 in Nashville.
As far as St. Louis and Chicago are concerned it has been a really good series so far. St. Louis can't say they didn't have their chances in Game 5 to close out the Blackhawks at home. They absolutely dominated the first overtime session but came up empty. With the Kings going down last night if the Blackhawks go down tonight we will see a different champion (not LA/CHI) for the first time since the 2010-11 season when Boston won.
The Islanders and Panthers series has been pretty fun to watch. Multiple overtime games with Florida pushing the pace playing catch up in some of the contests. The Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr line has lived in New York's end but they aren't cashing in. As a result the Islanders have been plucky enough to stick around and are 2-0 in the two overtime games. Thomas Greiss is making the most of his first chance to consistently start in the NHL. He has an adjusted save percentage of .939 in the playoffs so far. His numbers have always been very good but for whatever reason in the NHL certain players get labeled as a backup and need luck to find a break. Islanders did well for 1.5M.
Barkov had a unique opportunity to end the game in overtime on a penalty shot. This has only been the third time a penalty shot has been awarded in overtime. None of the three shooters have scored. There is also a Jagr connection because of course there is
Tampa Bay played a lot better than I thought they would without Stralman and Stamkos. They dispatched the Red Wings fairly easily. Detroit played well down the stretch and I thought they would have put up a better fight, but I suppose when the players are calling the shots...
Washington played great in Game 5 but Neuvirth and the Flyers survived. I don't recommend that game plan for the Flyers in Game 6
The funny thing about that is that Philadelphia had been pretty good at even-strength in this series mostly losing because of special teams and goaltending. The one game they were miserable 5v5 they pulled off a miracle.
I don't have much to add on the Pittsburgh/New York series. Either Lundqvist is going to pull a Neuvirth and keep his team alive or he isn't. The problem for New York is that even if Lundqvist does play great Matt Murray has played magnificent as well since taking over for Zatkoff. Pittsburgh seems to be getting better as the series goes on. They have more depth this time around and it shows. The thing to look for is Evgeni Malkin's even-strength play. Will he get more minutes? If Malkin's impact at even-strength goes up the Penguins will hit their next level in these playoffs.
Thanks for reading!
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